Q142961

Picture of the Day · NASA

Pathfinder on Mars

2026-07-04

On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time. After its then novel airbag-assisted landing sequence was completed, Pathfinder transmitted this color mosaic to mission operators on Earth. In the scene from another world, the Mars Sojourner robot rover is visible in the foreground, crouched on top of the unfolded Pathfinder. About the size of a large house cat, the six-wheeled, solar-powered Sojourner became the first successful Martian rover. Surrounding Pathfinder are deflated airbags and the rock-strewn terrain of the Ares Vallis floodplain. In the distance Martian hills appear against a dusty brownish sky. The Pathfinder lander was subsequently renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.

via NASA APOD

Key facts

Discovered by

K. Reinmuth

Discovery site

Heidelberg Obs.

Discovery date

9 March 1943

Named after

Heike Neckel (granddaughter of astronomer Alfred Bohrmann )

Alternative designations

1943 EY · 1934 LC, 1935 TD · 1938 FC, 1938 GB · 1950 NR 1 , 1951 WW · 1960 ME, 1961 TU 1 · 1966 QJ, 1971 QY 1 · A906 FA, A924 PB

Minor planet category

main-belt · Eos

Observation arc

111.22 yr (40,623 days)

Aphelion

3.3482 AU

Perihelion

2.6793 AU

Semi major axis

3.0137 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.23 yr (1,911 days)

Mean anomaly

249.18 °

Mean motion

0° 11 18.24 / day

Inclination

10.776°

Longitude of ascending node

155.63°

Argument of perihelion

211.36°

Dimensions

20.50 ± 0.79 km , 22.378 ± 0.235 , 23.485 ± 0.161 km , 24.06 ± 4.2 km , 24.17 km (derived) , 24.31 ± 1.45 km

Synodic rotation period

3.90 h , 4.742 ± 0.013 h

via Wikipedia infobox